The two-level politics of support—US foreign policy and the responsibility to protect

Abstract

This article investigates the US foreign and security policy with regard to the responsibility to protect (R2P). Based on the analysis of expert interviews and official documents, it traces the US position on R2P across critical junctures between the principle's 2005 adoption at the UN World Summit and its latest invocations in the Syrian crises of 2013. It discusses the recent atrocity prevention agenda of the US Government as ambitious and as a still evolving operationalisation of R2P. The article reveals several patterns in US attitude and practices towards R2P across recent administrations: the avoidance of new obligations in international law despite a general supportive attitude towards R2P; a deeply-rooted pragmatism that leads to the development of practical tools that follow-up on the principles it commits to, even if R2P language had to be avoided in domestic politics; and a constant balancing act between domestic- and international-level politics.